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Air fryer brats in a blanket are perfect if you want an easy appetizer or simple finger food. This air fryer appetizer uses Pillsbury pizza dough along with brats, cheese, jalapeños, and more. Pigs in a blanket with bratwurst is the perfect treat on game day or whenever you have friends coming over. Served warm and crisp from the air fryer, these smell incredible and taste even better, and the dip adds extra flavor.

Air fryer brats in a blanket are a completely irresistible appetizer or snack, especially when paired with a tasty homemade horseradish mustard dipping sauce.
If you like these flavors, you might also enjoy smoked brats in beer, brats in the air fryer with peppers and onions, or these spicy jalapeno popper tacos.
Why You’ll Love It
Rich, meaty flavors: The combination of bratwurst, bacon, cheese, and dough give these appetizer wonderful flavors.
Easy to prepare: You wrap the brats in bacon and air fry them, and then wrap them in pizza dough and air fry again while you whip up the tasty mustard dipping sauce.
Great for game day: In fact, they’re great for just about any occasion!
Air Fryer Brats in a Blanket Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Bratwurst: You can use bratwurst or sausage brats as your main ingredient.
Mozzarella: String cheese is perfect for this recipe, as it’s already in strips. And melted mozzarella is gorgeous.
Jalapenos: For a spicy kick.
Bacon: Adds a salty, meaty flavor and is used to wrap them up.
Pizza dough: I used classic crust dough.
Egg: To make an egg wash for brushing on the outside of these.
Everything bagel seasoning: For crunch.
Mustard: I used both Dijon mustard and yellow mustard in the dip.
Horseradish: Also to flavor the dipping sauce.
Honey: To sweeten the dipping sauce (optional).
Sour cream: Gives the dipping sauce a tasty, creamy tang.
How to Make Pigs in a Blanket with Brats
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Prepare the brats, cheese and jalapenos: Cut the brats down the middle without cutting all the way through. Cut the string cheese in half to get thinner pieces and add those inside the brat. Add sliced jalapeños in the openings too.
Wrap them in bacon: Use bacon to wrap them up. You will probably need 2 bacon slices for each brat.
Make the dipping sauce: While they’re in the air fryer, you can prepare the dipping sauce. The dip is easy because you just need to whisk the ingredients together.
Wrap in pizza dough: Let the brats cool a little on a paper towel lined plate. Roll out the Pillsbury pizza dough and cut strips using a pizza cutter, and then wrap each brat in strips. Mix the egg with some water to make an egg wash and brush this over the brats.
The finishing touches: Sprinkle everything bagel seasoning over them and air fry until golden. Serve the finished air fryer bacon jalapeño cheese pigs in a blanket with the horseradish mustard dipping sauce.
Substitutions and Variations
Brats: You can use any type or flavor of brats you prefer to make this fun party food.
Mozzarella: Substitute your favorite cheese, perhaps gouda, Swiss cheese or cheddar.
Pizza dough: You could use refrigerated crescent rolls.
Adjust the spiciness: Adjust the amount of jalapeños and/or remove the seeds to change how spicy the loaded pigs in a blanket come out.
Mustard dip: Use only Dijon, only yellow mustard or some of each. You can omit the horseradish if you aren’t keen on the flavor. Or sweeten it with honey. If you don’t like mustard, you can serve ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing instead of making the mustard dip. Or a hot dipping sauce, warmed up in a medium saucepan.
Everything bagel seasoning: If you like, you can use plain sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds in place of the everything bagel seasoning.
Bake them in the oven: You can use the oven in place of the air fryer.
Serving Suggestions
With other appetizers: Enjoy million dollar deviled eggs, crispy stacked potatoes, an antipasto board or roasted party nuts.
As a snack: Pair these with a beer or perhaps a white sangria.
How to Store Bratwurst in a Blanket
Store: Transfer them into a sealed container and refrigerate. Use them within 3 days.
Freeze: You can also freeze them in Ziploc bags for up to 2 months.
Thaw: Defrost overnight in the fridge.
Reheat: Warm them up for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F in either the air fryer or the oven.
Top Tips
Don’t slice through the brats: Cut them down the middle but not all the way through, otherwise the cheese will ooze out.
Overlap the bacon: Overlap it when you wrap the brats, so it holds the filling inside.
Check the doneness: As the filling just needs to warm through, you can tell when these are ready when they’re golden brown. Use a medium heat or medium high heat and keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
Loaded Pigs in a Blanket FAQs
It’s pretty easy to make this appetizer or finger food keto-friendly. To do that, simply omit the Pillsbury pizza dough step for the brats and swap the honey in the dipping sauce (if using) for artificial sweetener.
The purpose of the egg wash (egg whisked with water) is to give the dough a glossy, golden shine. Without it, this appetizer or finger food wouldn’t look as good. It also provides a sticky surface for the everything bagel seasoning to stick to.
Bratwurst, known as brats for short, is a kind of German sausage. Pork is typically used to make brats although veal or beef can also be used. The first evidence of bratwurst found on a document dates back to 1313 in Nuremberg, Germany, which is still a famous sausage-producing region.
Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Brats in Blankets Recipe
Air Fryer Brats in a Blanket
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 bratwurst, or sausage brats
- 5 Pieces mozzarella, string cheese
- 3 jalapeños, sliced, de-seeded for less heat
- 12 Ounces bacon
- 1 Can pizza dough, refrigerated, classic crust
- 1 egg, for egg wash
- 1 Tablespoon water, for egg wash
- 1 Tablespoon Everything Bagel seasoning
Horseradish Mustard Dip:
- 2 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ Cup mustard, yellow
- 1 Tablespoon horseradish
- ¼ Cup sour cream
- honey, to taste, optional
Instructions
- Cut string cheese in half for thinner pieces. Slice brats in half down the center, careful not to slice all the way through. Leaving the bottom of the brat intact will help the cheese inside not to escape once it melts as the brats cook.
- Place both halves of string cheese into the opening of the brat, then line sliced jalapenos between the cheese. Repeat with all brats.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees F.
- Wrap brats in bacon. Overlap the bacon as you wrap to completely cover the brat. We ended up using 2 slices of bacon per brat.
- Add brats to the air fryer and cook for 7 minutes.
- Prepare the dip. Combine Dijon mustard, yellow mustard, horseradish, and sour cream in a small bowl and whisk well, also adding honey if liked.
- Remove brats from the air fryer and let cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Blot lightly with a paper towel to remove excess grease.
- While the brats are cooling, unroll the canned pizza dough onto a lightly floured wooden cutting board. Use a pizza cutter and cut the dough into ¼-inch strips.
- Preheat the air fryer to 385 degrees F.
- Wrap the dough around the brats. For this step, we used 2 strips of pizza dough per brat.
- Brush dough with egg wash and sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning. Place into the air fryer basket and cook for 7 minutes, or until browned.
- Serve brats with dip.
Notes
Overlap the bacon: Overlap it when you wrap the brats, so it holds the filling inside.
Check the doneness: As the filling just needs to warm through, you can tell when these are ready when they’re golden brown.
Nutrition
If you’re looking for a delicious air fryer appetizer with Pillsbury pizza dough, loaded pigs in a blanket are ideal. These air fryer brats in a blanket boast the flavors of brats, cheese, chilies, bacon, and more. And the homemade horseradish mustard dipping sauce is the perfect pairing.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Overall taste was good but, I had issues with baking times. Followed recipe as written except cooking times.
It took so long to cook the bacon, all the cheese oozed out. I was careful to keep cut side up while baking. Maybe try par-cooking the bacon before wrapping?
After cooking pizza dough, the brat was dry. Pizza dough took 25 min to cook. Try puff pastry? Or pie crust?
I air fried in my oven, which usually takes longer than regular air fryers so maybe that was my issue.
Sorry. 😟
Hi Sharon, I’m sorry yours didn’t come out well. I think using the oven instead of the air fryer was probably what caused it, as the air fryer cooks much faster and crisps up to help hold the cheese inside. Mine came out well in the air fryer but I haven’t made them in the oven.
Hi Bella. Thanks for the response. To clarify, my oven has an air fry function. Trouble is, I’ve learned I usually have timing issues when using regular air fryer times. I’m sure that was my issue. I thought i would share my experience for others so they would know the pitfalls of NOT using a standard air fryer. 😁
I do NOT believe anything is wrong with your recipe! My oven was the culprit.
I will try again. When I do, I’ll be sure to share how it went.
Sharon
Ah that could be the reason why. Thanks for sharing! And let me know how they come out if you try again!
This is one of my go-to recipes of yours. Thank you!! 🙂
Absolutely delicious. Will make these again for Thanksgiving this year
These are incredible – I just love how the air fryer requires so little fat while crisping everything up soooo well!
Does it get any better than these cheese and jalapeno stuffed pigs in a blanket? The answer is no, it doesn’t.
YUM this looks like a great summer time or tailgating recipe to pin for later!
The name itself is sooooo tempting! I love all the combination in this pigs in a blanket! So good!
I am drooling. These look delicious. You had me at bacon!
That combo of bacon jalepeno sounds so good. And that mustard sauce is a bonus! What a great combo!
how unique with the pizza dough. going to give these a try this weekend